The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical multi-chamber container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product, and more particularly to a pre-filled container insert to be used with such a system.
Solid active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or formulated products generally have better shelf-life, i.e. degrade at a slower rate than solutions (or dispersions/emulsions) of the same compound. Therefore, it is commonplace to use dry powder, for example to freeze-dry or spray-dry pharmaceutical products to extend shelf-life of a pharmaceutical product to practical length, typically at least 18-24 months. At time of use, such a solid product must be dissolved in a suitable solvent before it can be administered to the patient, usually via is oral or parenteral routes or by nasal delivery. The dissolution of the solid in a solvent is typically made via transfer of the solvent from a vial or bag using a syringe. Although such a process is a standard procedure amongst hospital staff, it does take training and skill to do it in a safe and efficient manner without risk of needle-stick injury or compromising product sterility and thereby patient safety.
Patent abstract of Japan, JP2000037441A relates to an infusion container system having a solid drug storing part connected to a liquid solution container. A fluid communication channel is established between the two containers by pressing the solid medicine storing part to the solution container side and a partitioning member is opened and moved from a seal part. After making the solid drug storage container and the solution container open for free passage the solid drug dissolves in the liquid solution by shaking the whole transfusion container. The solution is now ready to be administered to a patient and a puncture needle is introduced into an infusion solution take off connection provided in the top of the solid drug storage container. A drawback with this device is that it requires a complicated construction of the solid drug storing part comprising several parts and which will involve a number of production steps. A further drawback is that two steps need to be carried out before the solution can be administered to a patient, namely first allow for mixing of the two ingredients and then introducing a needle to connect for example an infusion set.
It is an object of the present invention, in preferred embodiments at least, to provide a container system in which mixing of two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product, e.g. a solid and solvent or two different liquids, is made using a simple, effective and intuitive procedure with minimum risks for hospital staff and patients.
It is a further object of the present invention, in preferred embodiments at least, to provide a robust concept to be used in connection with blow-fill-seal (BFS) equipment having a construction involving few parts as well as few production steps.
In accordance with the present invention, from a first broad aspect at least, there is provided a pre-filled container insert for use in a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product. The pre-filled container insert comprises;
a moulded container casing having walls, bottom and an open top for receiving a solid component,
a resilient stopper for sealing the open top of the moulded container casing,
a bottom disc formed by a weakening rim in the bottom periphery of the moulded container casing, wherein the bottom disc is openable to allow mixing of the pre-filled solid component with a diluents fluid of the pharmaceutical container system by introducing a spike through the resilient stopper applying a pushing force on the bottom disc, by which force the weakening rim is broken and the container insert is opened.
In accordance with the present invention, from a further broad aspect at least, there is provided a pre-filled container insert for use in a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product. The pre-filled container insert comprises;
a moulded container casing having walls, bottom and an open top for receiving an inner open cylinder and a solid component,
a resilient stopper for sealing the open top of the moulded container casing,
a bottom disc formed by a weakening rim in the bottom periphery of the moulded container casing, wherein the bottom disc is openable to allow mixing of the pre-filled solid component with a diluents fluid of the pharmaceutical container system by applying a pushing force onto the top of the moulded container, thereby compressing the casing and forcing the inner cylinder towards the bottom disc, by which force the weakening rim is broken and the container insert is opened.
An advantage of preferred embodiments of the present invention is that there is provided a pre-filled container insert that is constructed from a minimum of parts and at the same time has efficient and robust construction. A further advantage of preferred embodiments of the present invention is that there is provided a pre-filled container insert that easily can be opened to provide mixing of contents in the insert and the liquids container. A still further advantage is that the pre-filled container insert is manufactured as a separate device and can be incorporated into different types of blow-fill-seal containers forming a pharmaceutical multi-chamber container system. Yet another advantage is that the separate device can be aseptically filled, sealed and processed (e.g. terminally sterilised) under controlled conditions before the next unit operation of actually mounting the device into the diluents container.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the weakening rim in the bottom disc is arranged around the periphery of the bottom of the container casing forming a hinged disc such that the bottom disc remains connected to the container casing when the weakening rim is broken and the container is opened.
In this way the bottom disc is prevented from falling out into the diluents container after opening of the pre-filled container insert.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the resilient stopper is secured in place by a clamp ring to hermetically seal the top opening.
The clamp ring locks and fixes the resilient stopper in the open top of the container casing and the moulded casing is hermetically sealed.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the bottom disc is covered by a moisture barrier foil.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the resilient stopper is covered by a moisture barrier foil.
By covering the container insert with a moisture barrier foil, both on the bottom side or on the resilient top side, the pre-filled content has a maximum of protection from the outside environment, i.e. light, moisture and/or oxygen.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the pre-filled container insert is aseptically mounted into the top of a BFS-container forming a multi-chamber pharmaceutical container system.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the moulded container casing has pleated sidewalls forming a bellows container insert.
By forming the container casing as a bellows container an easily deformable casing is formed in one single piece.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the pre-filled container insert is capable of use with one or more delivery systems, such as a nasal delivery system. Preferably the pre-filled container insert is connectable to or within, or otherwise can be incorporated with, for example, a standard nasal delivery mechanism such as a nasal spray.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, there is provided a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product, comprising
a first container comprising a diluents liquid,
a second container insert aseptically mounted into the top of the first container, the second container comprising
a moulded container casing for receiving a solid component,
a resilient stopper for sealing the open top of the moulded container casing,
a bottom disc formed by a weakening rim in the bottom periphery of the moulded container casing, wherein the bottom disc is openable to allow mixing of the pre-filled solid component with a diluents fluid of the pharmaceutical container system by introducing a spike through the resilient stopper applying a pushing force on the bottom disc, by which force the weakening rim is broken and the container insert is opened.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, there is provided a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product comprising
a first container comprising a diluents liquid,
a second container insert aseptically mounted into the top of the first container, the second container comprising
a moulded container casing having walls, bottom and an open top for receiving an inner open cylinder and a solid component,
a resilient stopper for sealing the open top of the moulded container casing,
a bottom disc formed by a weakening rim in the bottom periphery of the moulded container casing, wherein the bottom disc is openable to allow mixing of the pre-filled solid component with a diluents fluid of the pharmaceutical container system by applying a pushing force onto the top of the moulded container, thereby compressing the casing and forcing the inner cylinder towards the bottom disc, by which force the weakening rim is broken and the container insert is opened.
A standard procedure for a nurse preparing an intra-venous (IV)-container is to visually inspect, and in some procedures to spike, the IV-container before starting infusion. Therefore, using a pharmaceutical container system according to embodiments of the present invention, the standard working procedure is not changed. In preferred embodiments, by simply pushing the container top to allow mixing and then ensure the complete mixing operation by visual inspection, a simple an intuitive procedure is obtained. In addition, no separate mixing step using hypodermic needles are necessary, eliminating the risk of needle-stick injuries. Mixing is made without risk of microbial contamination since the solid and liquid chambers are both parts of the same hermetically sealed container. In other embodiments, similar steps are carried out but for preparing a nasal delivery device such as a nasal spray, which typically comprises a container, and a spray or other nasal delivery mechanism attached thereto.
Medicaments suitable for administration via a pharmaceutical multi-chamber container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product, and more particularly to be pre-filled with the container insert of the present invention include for example proton pump inhibitors, for example omeprazol, anticancer medicaments, antibiotics, immunotherapies, vaccines, antiviral medicaments, polypeptides and peptides, for example, peptide hormones and growth factors, polypeptide vaccines, enzymes endorphines, lipoproteins and polypeptides involved in the blood coagulation cascade.
The present invention will now be described, for exemplary purposes, in more detail by way of embodiments and with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:
a and 2b schematically illustrate the opening procedure of the pre-filled container insert, and,
a-3d show a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients s of a pharmaceutical product, which system consists of a BFS-container filled with a diluents liquid and a pre-filled insert sealed to the container, and,
a-4h illustrate schematically the manufacturing steps of a further pre-filled container insert in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and,
a-5c schematically illustrate the opening procedure of the pre-filled container insert of
a-6d show a pharmaceutical container system for mixing two or more ingredients of a pharmaceutical product, which system consists of a BFS-container filled with a diluents liquid and a pre-filled insert sealed to the container.
a to 1g and 4a to 4h schematically illustrate how pre-filled container inserts can be manufactured. The container inserts, being manufactured separately e.g. by injection moulding can use any type thermoplastic material, e.g. high-barrier engineering plastics if necessary to impart high-barrier properties, e.g. with light, moisture or oxygen sensitive compounds.
a shows the moulded container casing 1 having walls 2, bottom 3 and an open top 4 for receiving a medicament component. The container casing 1 which is made using e.g. injection moulding preferably has a cylindrical geometry and the bottom 3 has a suitable weakening rim 5 in the bottom periphery. The weakening rim 5 will make it possible to push open the bottom disc 3 to allow material transfer between the pre-filled insert and a liquid container. Preferably, a small portion of the weakening rim is kept thicker, functioning as a hinge 6 so as to prevent the bottom disc 3 to completely disengage from the solids container on opening.
To further augment the moisture or gas barrier of the container insert and thus to protect the content, a barrier foil 7, e.g. an aluminium foil can be used to cover the bottom disc 3, which can be seen in
In
d,
1
e and 1f show how the container insert is hermetically closed using a resilient stopper 9, e.g. a standard rubber stopper or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) part, which is mounted through the open top and secured by a clamp ring 10 to ensure a safe and tight fastening of the stopper 9. As shown in
a schematically illustrate how a spike 20 is pushed through the resilient stopper 9 of the pre-filled container insert and in 2b how the pushing force from the spike 20 breaks the weakened rim 5 in bottom periphery (as well as the barrier foil 7) and the content 8 of the pre-filled container insert is free to leave the container.
a illustrates an embodiment of a pharmaceutical container system 21 wherein a pre-filled container insert 17 according to the present invention is mounted into the top of a blow-fill-seal container 22. In the embodiment of
a shows another embodiment of the present invention. Like reference numerals are used to indicate components similar to those of the embodiment of
In
e and 4f show how the container insert is hermetically closed using a resilient stopper 9, e.g. a standard rubber stopper or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) part, which is mounted through the open top and secured by a clamp ring 10 to ensure a safe and tight fastening of the stopper 9. As shown in
a schematically illustrates how a pressing force is applied to the top of the bellows container insert 17 and how the pushing force compresses the walls 2 of the container insert. In
a illustrates an embodiment of a pharmaceutical container system 21 wherein a pre-filled container insert 17 according to the present invention is mounted into the top of a is blow-fill-seal container 22. As discussed above, the system may comprise any other, suitable pharmaceutical system, such as a container for use with a nasal delivery mechanism. The pre-filled container insert 17 filled with a content 8 will be enclosed into the liquid blow-fill-seal container and the top portion of the pre-filled container is revealed to the user by opening a twist-off top 23 of the blow-fill-seal container 22, which is shown in
To mix the content of the solid and liquid containers in the above intravenous examples, the user (typically a nurse) adopts a normal working procedure with intravenous, i.e. IV-infusions. A preferred use of a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in
1) The nurse twists off the blow-fill seal container top and peels off the moisture barrier seal if there is one (and disinfects the rubber stopper top if that is standard procedure).
2) A sterile IV-administration set bag is opened.
3) The IV-spike of the administration set is inserted into the rubber stopper top, thereby piercing the rubber stopper. As the spike is fully inserted, the bottom disc of the solids chamber is pushed open by the spike, and the solids and liquids chambers are now communicating to enable mixing.
4) The contents of the solids and liquids chambers are mixed by gently rocking the container.
5) The nurse visually inspects the contents of the container to ensure full dissolution and absence of particulate matter.
6) The needle is attached to the patient after purging, and IV-infusion is ready to start.
A preferred use of a system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in
1) The nurse twists off the blow-fill seal container top.
2) The nurse compresses the bellows insert to make the pre-filled content fall into the diluents container and the solids and liquids chambers are now communicating to enable mixing.
3) The contents of the solids and liquids chambers are mixed by gently rocking the container.
4) The nurse peels off the moisture barrier (or protective) seal and disinfects the rubber stopper top if that is standard procedure
4) A sterile IV-administration set bag is opened. The IV-spike of the administration set is inserted into the rubber stopper top, thereby piercing the rubber stopper.
5) The nurse visually inspects the contents of the container to ensure full dissolution and absence of particulate matter.
6) The needle is attached to the patient after purging, and IV-infusion is ready to start.
In other embodiments, for example where the pre-filled insert is for use with, e.g., a nasal is delivery device, some of the above steps may be carried out, but with the insert contained within, or otherwise associated with, a suitable container such as a nasal spray bottle or the like.
Further, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments but can be modified in many different ways without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/SE2009/050922 | 8/10/2009 | WO | 00 | 4/20/2011 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61087784 | Aug 2008 | US | |
61087789 | Aug 2008 | US |